My name is Don DeLeva, I am a Seattle based artist. I work mainly in acrylic on wood panel. My art vacillates between POP Surrealism and abstraction mainly focusing on portraits and the visualization of personality and perspective. Recently, I have been bringing both styles together to create a fuller more vibrant image. This site is dedicated to the ideas that inspire my work art. Thank you for visiting.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

It's been a little while since I picked up a brush and painted in oils. I forgot how nice it is to make what ever mark I want, when ever I want. For example, In oils I get the option of wiping out what I painted last night in a way that looks like I never purposefully painted it, like it was a some "happy mistake". Adding volume and light in oils the next day is a luxury since doing the same in acrylics means layering. Brush strokes in acrylics leave shapes, in oils brush strokes can be turned into hazy light or shadow very easily. There might be a way to do it in acrylics but it always look purposeful.
If I had to compare the 2 to drawing, Oils are like charcoal or pencil and acrylic is like ink and markers. There might be a way to do it in acrylics but always look purposeful.
My Acrylics still have a ways to go. I would like to take them past illustrations in to the realm of good acrylic paintings, meaning paintings that exemplify acrylic. When I get there I will let you know.
I have so wanted to be a good painter like Rembrandt and Caravaggio, but it was in their genes and their times. My paintings are made by electric light and manufactured paint and my jeans are made by Levi, which can't be torn apart by a horse...at least that's what the label says. ;-)